Cairo

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After Mt Sinai, it was a long bus ride to Cairo (about 8 hours) the home of McDonald’s and KFC delivery! Cairo is mad, there are about 20 million people here. It reminds us a little of India but with better infrastructure and less rubbish. The driving here is insane, there don’t seem to be any road rules, driving in a lane a completely foreign idea, it seems better to be in the lane furthest away from the street you want to turn into, therefore having to cut across all the lanes. None of the lights seem to work, traffic officers stand in the middle of the intersection and direct traffic and crossing the road is like a game of chicken. That said the people are pretty friendly and there are some fantastic things to see, although we do attract more attention than we are comfortable with at times.

Our first stop was the Pyramids of Giza. Incredibly the pyramids are not in the desert but actually plonked in the middle of the congested city suburb of Giza. The sheer size of the pyramids were amazing and to think that they have been there for over 4500 years is quite extraordinary.

The Great Pyramid of Khufu (Cheops) is the oldest and largest pyramid in Giza and Egypt. It stood 146m high when it was completed around 2570 BC. Over 2 million limestone blocks were used, weighing about 2.5 tonnes each were used in the construction.

The second pyramid - Pyramid of Khafre (Chephren) is famous because its peak is still capped with a limestone casing. The polished limestone casing would have originally covered all the pyramids giving them a smooth finish. Depending on who you speak to the limestone was either destroyed during earthquakes or pilfered to be used in palaces and mosques.

We went into the Pyramid of the Mother of Queen Hetepheres. It was an interesting experience to be inside the pyramid but a back breaking walk into the main chamber and stinking hot inside. Not one for those who suffer from claustrophobia!

Next was the Sphinx. They believe that it is a model of Khafre’s face on the Sphinx. Unfortunately the nose of the Sphinx was hammered off centuries ago, although some people still blame Napoleon for this deed and part of the Sphinx’s beard lies in the British museum, but it was spectacular nonetheless. We were swamped by swarms of children asking for a photo and where we were from. Everyone was really friendly.

Islamic Cairo was heaving with people on Friday, the equivalent of our Saturday. In Khan al-Khalili (a marketplace since the 14th century) Matt was asked how many wives and camels he had! All through the market people were hissing (apparently this means get out of the way) and the one liners the shop keepers came out with were hilarious - do you remember me, you were in my dream last night, sweetie you have stolen my heart and other drivel.

We went for a tea at Fishawi’s Coffeehouse, a famous café down a small alley complete with an eclectic mix of art work and huge mirrors. It claims to have been open continuously for the last 200 years! Despite going there to seek refuge from all the hassle on the street, hawkers continued in the shop, one after the other trying to sell all sorts of useless items.

After two days in Cairo our tour finished leaving us to our own devices. We had a final group dinner on a felucca, sharing a bottle of wine and kushari as we headed down the Nile looking at the lights of Cairo. Our tour was fantastic. The people were great, it was well organised and hassle free. Catching public transport allowed us to interact with the locals more than a private bus would have allowed and most of the excursions were optional so you could set your own pace and see what you wanted. The rest of the group is continuing for another week in Egypt and we wish that we were joining them as it has been such fun and defiantly mush easier than travelling by ourselves. Still tours are pretty hectic and we are looking forward to slowing down a little.

We hired a driver and headed to Saqqara, the huge cemetery of ancient Memphis. It was an active burial ground for more than 3500 years. Old Kingdom pharaohs were buried within Saqqara’s 11 major pyramids while their subjects were buried in the hundreds of smaller tombs found in the area.

The Step Pyramid is the most famous site. In the year 2650 BC, Imhotep, the pharaoh’s architect built the Step Pyramid for Zoser. It is the world’s earliest stone monument. The Step Pyramid is surrounded by a huge funerary complex, covering more than 15 hectares.

We headed into the Pyramid of Teti (2345-2323 BC) who was the first pharaoh of the 6th dynasty. Inside is Teti’s basalt sarcophagus complete with inscriptions. The next tomb we visited was the Mastaba of Ti (5th dynasty). The tomb contained detailed scenes of daily life, fishing, working, dancing, building boats and preparing food. We also visited the fantastic museum at the site, complete with mummies and even a mummy where the casing has been removed showing a very well preserved body.

A dust/sand storm did not make it the most enjoyable day out and we were hot, filthy and grumpy (well I was!) but the site and museum was magnificent.

From there we headed to Dahshur passing through a small village reminiscent of rural India, bare, dusty, dirty and poor with auto rickshaws everywhere. There was plenty of rubbish in the river, donkeys and water buffalo around. We headed to the Red Pyramid and went down the 125m shaft into two antechambers with stunning 12m high corbelled ceilings and a 15m high corbelled burial chamber.

The area is also famous for the Bent Pyramid - the steep angle showed signs of stress and instability during construction around the half way mark so the architects had to reduce the angle and lay the stone in horizontal layers causing it to look bent. Unfortunately because Dahshur is a military zone, the closest we would get was about 500m and with a sand storm visibility was poor.

Our visit to Coptic Cairo was very interesting. In this area there are a handful of churches linked by narrow cobbled alleyways and high stone walls. The area is the heartland of Egypt’s Christian community and aside from the thousands of tourists it was relatively peaceful compared to the rest of Cairo.

Our first stop was the Hanging Church - it is literally built on the top of the Water Gate of Roman Babylon hence the name “hanging”. Next we visited the Monastery and Church of St George who is believed to have been executed for resisting the decree forbidding the practice of Christianity. The oldest church in Coptic Cairo is the Church of St Sergius. It is said to be built over a cave where Joseph, Mary and the infant Jesus sheltered after feeling Egypt to escape persecution.

Another highlight was our visit to the Egyptian Museum. This museum is bursting at the seams with history. There is so much to see that we just concentrated a the major exhibits including the amazing death mask of Tutankhamun (weighing 11kg) and his two golden sarcophagi (the smallest of which, like the mask, is cast in solid gold and weighs 110kg). The Royal Mummy room was interesting if a little creepy as was the animal mummies.

We have spent a couple of days have been spent sorting out our visas for onward travel, which has been challenging to say the least. Patience not being our strong point was sorely tested! We finally found the Sudanese Embassy after getting totally disorientated with a very poor map. The visa office had closed but we spoke to a nice man who confirmed what we already knew which was that the visa is only valid for 30 days from the date of issue and therefore we will need to return to Cairo meaning that we will have to double back. It also costs an astounding US$ 100. In order to get the process started we headed to the NZ High Commission to organise our letter of invitation for Sudan. Apparently it has moved, only took us 30 minutes to find that out. On our way back to the hotel we chatted with a guy who said that his brother lives in NZ etc. We fell for it and ended up in his perfume shop. He wanted to make us tea which we accepted before he launched in to the hard sell. It got a little uncomfortable so we made the decision to politely leave, we could not be bothered with another tout. We feel bad if his story was genuine but we have met plenty of touts who confirm that these stories are generally made up to lure you into buying something. If his story was true then maybe we missed out on a genuine opportunity but we were too hot and dusty to care.

We then jumped on the metro (which is great, fast, modern and clean) to head to the Ethiopian embassy to sort out our visa only to be told that they had moved, not that this was in our book or anywhere on the website. The guy kindly directed a taxi driver roughly to the street where he thought the embassy was (by the way taxi drivers do not know street names which is not helpful when there are no monuments in the area to guide them to). We then walked round in circles, no-one could help us, so then we tried to find an internet café to Google the address (no mean feat in itself) but the address was nowhere to be found and the phone numbers did not work. My next idea was to call the NZ embassy where they very kindly gave me the address. The next problem was that the Arabic translation into English in Google maps is a bit limited and the street did not come up. Eventually we found a policeman who directed us to the street. I have to add here that everyone has been very friendly (apart from the odd man on the metro who had wandering hands - there is a reason they have women’s carriages and I will now start to use them) and everyone tried as best as they could to help us. We eventually found the embassy but was not let in, there was a hole in the wall, so we dealt with the guy through that, he handed us a badly copied form, we gave him US$30 per visa and our passports (probably never to be seen again!) and were told to pick it up tomorrow. Amazingly the next day we turned up and poked our head in to the hole in the wall to ask for our passports. The guy called someone and a very nice lady appeared with our passports and a multiple entry visa for 3 months. In the end it was completely hassle free. Perfect.

After a strong cup of coffee we then headed to the train station and eventually found the ticket office to book our overnight train to Aswan. The man was very helpful but the ticket was double what we were expecting to pay and we think that we may have been ripped off. His explanation for the price did not make sense to me when I challenged him on it but what can we do?

Next we tried to find the office to enquire about the ferry tickets to Sudan. No-one knew what we were talking about but one kind man did chase us down once he realised what we were trying to say and took us to the office himself. In a nut shell you need your passport and your Sudanese visa before you can book a ticket.

Next stop Aswan via a very long overnight train.

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Comments

[Peter Blacklaws]

Matt
Love your haircut Matt.